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fixed value was one great reason why the convicts showed so little anxiety to procure them.

How far opportunities may occur of introducing in Van Diemen's Land a better system of convict management, in reference to any convicts hereafter to be introduced there, must of course remain in doubt till the question of continuing the transportation to the island of male convicts shall have been finally adjusted. But I proceed to explain what is the system of management which I should wish to have adopted in the event of any such additions being made, because instructions framed on that hypothesis, will, to a great extent, be found applicable to the case of the convicts already inhabiting the colony.

Each convict should then, I am of opinion, in the first instance be subjected to confinement upon the Separate System, for a term of from six to twelve months. During this period the convict should be allowed to work at his trade, if he have one, or he should be taught a trade, if he is willing to learn. Great and constant attention must be paid to his moral and religious instruction. He should in fact be treated as nearly as possible upon the system adopted at Pentonville.

When the convict shall issue from this preparatory imprisonment, he ought to be employed at first on such work as will give him air and exercise enough to keep him in health; but he should be allowed as little communication as possible with his fellow-prisoners. In fact the Silent System ought to be adopted as far as compatible with the execution of the work on which the convict is employed.

A separate cell must be provided for every prisoner at night, and during the night no communication must be allowed between them.

If it should be impracticable to provide separate cells for each pri- soner, the same object might perhaps to a certain extent be attained by having long galleries, along one side of which should be placed the beds of the convicts, divided from each other by wooden partitions six or seven feet high, the other side of the gallery remaining clear from end to end. In dormitories of this kind, bedding 50 or 60 men, if lighted and watched by officers during the night, it seems to me possible that by good management the evils which have arisen from the indiscriminate herding together of convicts might be averted, and accommodation of this sort for a large number of prisoners might be provided much more quickly and at a very much smaller expense, than properly-constructed separate cells.

After a certain time the prisoner should be allowed to work in com- pany with his fellow-prisoners, and to communicate freely with them. The At that stage of the process the Probation System will commence. prisoner must serve as at present a definite number of days in the pro- bation gang, but these days must be measured by work. A system of task-work similar to that adopted among the convicts in Bermuda ought to be put in operation. A certain quantity of every description of labour should be considered a day's work. The amount must be carefully considered and arranged in tables, so that each convict may be able to ascertain the amount of labour expected from him during a day of a certain number of hours; and this amount should be so regulated, that a man of average power, by working hard, should be able to complete one-and-a-half or one-and-three-quarters day's work within that time. Should the convict then prove industrious, he will be credited with one- and-a-quarter or one-and-a-half day's work, instead of only one day, and he may thus reduce the period during which he is to serve in the probation gang. It is to be understood, however, that the convict is to labour for a certain number of hours on each day, so that if he finishes his task, he must still continue to labour, the extra time being credited to his account.

This would in effect be an adoption of the essential principle of Captain Maconochie's scheme, though in a mode much more free from objection than that which he proposes. It would however be advisable to make rather a nearer approach to Captain Maconochie's system, by providing that it should be in the option of the convict to expend a part

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of his extra earnings in luxuries, instead of applying them all to the abridgment of his time in the probation gang. This might he regulated as follows:-the convict upon entering the gang should be considered as indebted to the public a certain sum of money, and a value put upon his labour, which, by doing what is considered a proper day's work, would in a given time discharge the debt. Then if he did more than the task, he should be permitted to spend half the excess upon tobacco and other indulgences, instead of applying it all to the abridgment of his term. The tendency of this practice would be to teach the convicts the value of denying themselves immediate gratifications with a view to future advantages.

When the convict shall have worked out the period of his service in the probation gang, he will become a pass-holder, that is, he will be allowed to hire himself out to private individuals or public bodies, under the same regulations as at present. If, however, a convict should not be so hired he ought to be required to work for the Government by task-work, under similar regulations to those which have been mentioned as appli- cable to the probation gangs. For the daily task he should receive his ration, and in addition to this, in order to maintain a proper distinction between his condition and that of men still in the probation gang, he should be allowed some small amount of wages, which, however, he should not receive at the time in money. For any extra work he might perform a scale of remuneration should be settled, and of his whole earnings he should be allowed to receive a portion, if such should be his choice, in what may be called luxuries-that is, in tea, sugar, or tobacco; the remainder being laid up for him, and a regular account kept, so that at the end of his sentence he would, if industrious, have a sum of money to receive, which would enable him to support himself when he obtained his ticket of leave, until he found employment. Should he prefer to leave this money in the hands of the Commissariat, it might be as well to allow him an interest upon it, and to establish a species of savings' bank, where these small sums might accumulate, to be paid over to the convict upon obtaining his conditional pardon.

I do not think it would be desirable to allow mere industry to shorten This period the period during which a man is to remain a pass-holder. should be fixed, and nothing but good conduct and attention to moral and religious duties should have any effect in shortening this portion of the punishment.

The regulations at present in existence as to ticket-of-leave men do The holders not seem to me to require alteration, except in certain cases. of tickets of leave when in distress and unable to find employment, ought to be placed by the Governor in the hiring gangs, so that they may earn a subsistence by their labour.

The system detailed above depends very much for its effectual work- ing upon the adoption of task-work. There are some objections to that course which I will now proceed to consider.

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It is said that task-work puts too much power in the hands of the inferior agents or overseers.

This objection, if it means that the services of active, intelligent, and trustworthy officers will be indispensable, may be admitted to be well founded, but it would equally apply to any system of convict discipline which could be adopted, since none could be devised which would super- sede the necessity of employing agents of this description. If it is meant that the system as now proposed would place any needless amount of discretionary power, unchecked by strict responsibility, in the hands of subordinate agents, this may safely be denied, for the tasks will not in any way be left to the discretion of the overseers, but will be arranged after careful consideration by the Comptroller and other competent officers; so that no authority on the subject need be left to the over- seer, except that conferred by being required to certify to the amount of work executed. As such work would admit of actual measurement, no dispute could arise on the subject which might not easily be settled by the superintendent, who should be most strictly enjoined to mete out

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

• 885

2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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